Villa Vie Odyssey: Problems with toilets and showers resolved, while passengers unable to disembark at first stop in Brest, France

It was due to launch from Belfast in May but was beset by repair requirements to meet maritime regulations, after having been idle for five years due to the pandemic.

It eventually launched from Belfast on 3 October with Brest in France marked as its first destination.

CEO Mike Petterson told the News Letter that they had confirmed Brest as their destination “too late” for the port to put enough staff on for the weekend.

As a result there weren’t enough staff to handle residents coming and going to shore.

"It also meant that water wasn’t able to be offloaded. This was after having anchored for three days and a sea day to Brest, so we had over 500 tons of water which had to be moved to forward tanks which we decided to do overnight and into the early morning."

He then explained why toilet flushing and showers were out of order for a time.

"We also took time at night to do maintenance on the boiler which is why the water was completely off in the morning. Without water, there is no flushing and no showers. Service was restored later in the morning and services are and have been back to normal."

While some critics had claimed the age of the ship (31) was going to pose a problem in docking in some countries, he dismissed this suggestion out of hand.

"There is not a port in the world that doesn’t allow us because of our age except China. China has a policy to not allow cruise ships that are over 30 years, but we are already working with the Chinese government for an exemption."

Mr Petterson said the rigorous safety certificates awarded after refurbishment work in Belfast were issued "without conditions".

It is normal for such certificates to cover three months in the first instance, the second for six months and then annually from then on, he said.

"There is nothing extraordinary about our certificates being good til Christmas."

Mr Petterson also dismissed suggestions about lack of communication with residents. "I don’t know of any cruise line or company at all for that matter where the CEO/COO provides almost daily updates on operations."

One passenger had been removed from the cruise about a month ago, after creating what he described a "hostile environment… but we are not policing socials [social media]," he added.

Asked how the journey was going, passenger Angie Harsanyi from Colorado told the News Letter: "Everything is absolutely amazing!"

There had been some "small issues" but they were resolved in two days.

Anyone planning to do a round the world trip should be able to "handle some hiccups.. especially with a ship out of commission for four years" she added.

According to cruisemapper.com the vessel is currently docked at Bilbao in north Spain and its next destination will be the nearby port of Gijon.